CITIBANK Bhd (Citi Malaysia) has recently announced new employee benefits which include maternity leave of 180 days, adoption leave to mirror maternity leave and paternity leave of 10 days for employees in Malaysia.

In addition, Citi Malaysia is also expanding its CitiKids Care which first started in 2010. Citi Malaysia is the first bank in Malaysia to offer childcare services to its employees. The new centre will be able to house double the current enrolment of children between the age of two and a half years and six years old.

The new benefits are effective from October 1, 2019. Besides the increase in maternity leave and 10 days of paternity leave, they include 90 days’ fully paid adoption leave for female employees who are legally adopting a child below two years old.

Nisha Padbidri, Country HR officer for Citi Malaysia stated, “The new benefits are timely and aligned to our focus to build an inclusive and progressive work culture. We want to encourage the nurturing of healthy families and communities, as well as enabling a better work-life balance for employees.”

Nisha added the enhancement was also in response to the annual voice of the employee survey. The move was undertaken to improve employee satisfaction and creating a work culture that strongly supports diversity and is reflective of the progressive society that we live in today.

The move is welcome given Citi Malaysia employs close to 5,000 employees today. About 83% of this workforce comprises millennials while women make up 64% of the company’s workforce. Many multinationals are rolling out such initiatives to improve the wellbeing of their staff and their work-life balance. Recently, Global telco company Vodafone announced that all its employees worldwide will be offered 16 weeks of fully-paid parental leave.